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ONLINE 16-MAR-01 Committee proposes Web site changes by Rachel Shiffrin thresher staff Proposed Changes to the Web Site The following is a summary of some of the major recommendations from the Web Steering Committee: Establish a Web site database for owners to register their URLs. Provide links to relevant news stories, including a summary of the stories, on the Rice home page. Create links on the Rice home page to pages which are designed for either a specific audience, such as alumni, or for a specific subject, such as athletics. Improve the search engine so that a search would only look for documents in a certain part of the Web site, as defined by the user. Frequently update the style guide for the Rice Web site. Ensure that the Web site is designed so it can be quickly accessed from all types of computers and Internet connections. This includes having a text only version and having small graphics for quick downloads. Improve student recruitment worldwide by making the Web site more friendly for prospective international students. Create standards for departmental Web sites, including basic information that should be on each department page, such as contact information for the person or group responsible for the site. Establish an award for the best Rice Web site to motivate site developers to comply with the style guide. Create intellectual property guidelines and ensure that all publishers of content are aware of and adhere to them. Improve and make more consistent Rice's Internet connectivity. Establish a common look and feel for the entire Rice Web site to appear as one professionally designed Web site. Create an interdisciplinary Web consulting to support the Rice Web site as a manageable resource. After reviewing the Rice Web site and comparing it to other schools' sites, a committee has proposed 70 improvements for Rice's home on the Internet. The Rice University Web Steering Committee, composed of faculty and staff members, was appointed last October to recommend changes to the current system. "We want [Rice] to have one of the best Web pages in the world," President Malcolm Gillis said. One change proposed was to create an oversight committee to review Rice's URLs. Currently, anyone wishing to create a Web page can choose their own URL as long as it has not been used by another group. This has caused problems when an organization requests a URL that would be commonly associated with the organization, but is unable to have it because it is being used by another person or organization. Assigning URLs in a more systematic manner would also allow students to more easily determine Web site addresses. The committee also recommended improvements to the Rice search engine to allow for more specific searches. The current Google search offered from the Rice Web page does not allow searching within a specific area of the Rice Web site. Also, the search engine does not change its results if a Web page has been moved, discontinued or outdated. Another recommended change was to create portals, or pages for visitors of the Web site to go to based on their interests. Some portals might be based on the audience: prospective students, current students or members of the Houston community might have a specific portal to visit. Other portals would be subject-based, such as a "Rice in the community" portal. A report of the committee's research and its recommendations was made available to students and faculty before spring break. The committee asked for input about which of the proposed changes students and faculty thought were most useful or necessary. Student input was directed to outgoing Student Association President Lindsay Botsford, but as of press time, no students had submitted evaluations. The original deadline for student input was Feb. 28 and was extended to yesterday. Botsford, a Wiess College junior, wrote a summary of the comments for Gillis. Faculty input was directed to Gillis, who will combine the suggestions and decide what the most important changes will be, Botsford said. - back - Search the Thresher pages: Enter your search terms: Copyright © 2000 The Rice Thresher. All Rights Reserved. This document may be distributed electronically, provided that it is distributed in its entirety and includes this notice. However, it cannot be reprinted without the express written permission of: The Rice Thresher, Rice University MS-524, PO Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892, USA. The Thresher Online Project -- ethresh@listserv.rice.edu